Evaluating Sources - Web Resources
Because of the ease with which people can publish their work on the
Internet, evaluation of material found on the Web is very important.
The Internet allows authors to bypass the traditional publishers , therefore
avoiding editors and the peer review process.
The Internet can provide some very useful sources. But beware: anyone
can put anything on the Net. Its unfiltered, unedited quality makes
it very democratic but also very unreliable and wildly variable in quality.
As one Internet expert has noted: "In the foreseeable future the Internet
will consist of two parts: a highly organised, quality filtered body
of information and a garbage can containing all the trash and trivia.
There is still a way to go before these two worlds can be kept apart."
WWW Evaluation Criteria:
(Click on each of the criteria above for further
details.)
There are several sites which evaluate the quality of Net sites, often offering reviews and important information about the origin and reliability of individual sites.
Evaluating Internet Resources for SOSIG
Internet Detective (an interactive tutorial on evaluating the quality of Internet resources)
Accuracy
As with print resources, accuracy is important. Remember, almost anyone can publish on the Web, and frequently the resources are not checked for accuracy by editors.
How reliable is the information contained in the work?
Are the facts it contains accurate?
Can the background information that was used by the author be verified for accuracy?
Does the work contain a comprehensive bibliography? - which will allow you to check the sources which the author has made use of.
Authority
Sometimes it is is difficult to establish the author and publisher of material on the Web. (The author and publisher may be one and the same person) If you can establish who the author and publisher is check the following:
Is the author well known and well regarded in the field?
What are the author's qualifications for writing on this topic? (Not only with respect to formal qualifications!)
Is the publisher well known and well regarded? (Well regarded publishers of printed works check that the manuscript meets set standards before it is published. This often involves the work of an editor, and peer review)
Coverage
It is often difficult to fully establish the coverage of a Web resource, as it can be made up of many separate, but linked resources. Because of this it can even be hard to tell where one resource starts and where another finishes Try to evaluate each Web page (document) separately.
What topics are covered in the work?
What is the breadth of the coverage? (Are all aspects explored?)
What is the depth of the coverage? (What is the level of detail included?)
What time period is covered by the work?
To what extent is the material fact based vs opinion based?
Currency
It is sometimes difficult to establish the publication date of a Web page. While it is relatively easy to publish on the Web, it is also easy for authors and publishers to update and change their work. If a date is included try to determine whether it is the date the work was written, the date the information was published on the Web or the date when the page was updated.
Is the content of the work up to date?
Naturally this is not really an issue with regard to most Primary Source material.
Currency is more of an issue with regard to Secondary Sources - newly discovered Primary Sources can shed new light on a subject, and sometimes well known Primary Sources are reinterpreted so that the validity of long held views or opinions is brought into question. So it is important to take into account the most recent works on a subject.
Objectivity
Tied in with Authority it is important to establish who the author is. Remember, the popularity and accessibility of the Web makes it a prime target for marketing and political publishing. While there is a wealth of important resources on the Web, it can also be a "virtual soapbox".
Is the information written with a minimum of bias?
Does the author take into account all aspects of the topic?
